After Happily Ever After

While Mommy's Away : A Catfish Christmas

N'Jemah King Stevens Udaku, her poor baby.

"This is cruel, E," Fallon ran her finger along the soft satiny skin of her newborn son's cheek.

Fresh out, the infant had a face that looked like a thumb that'd spent too long in water: wrinkled and featureless. But he was her thumb, adorable and wholly Fallon's, and she'd kill any man or woman who tried to take him from her.

"It's tradition," like her, Erik lost himself in their son's face. His hand cupped the back of N'Jemah's head and stroked the downy, thick hair there.

Fallon didn't want to look away from her baby's face, but she had to shoot her husband an unamused look. "The boy has three last names, Erik. Which one do we even put on his school documents?"

Erik began to answer, but N'Jemah made a soft noise in his sleep. Their attention snapped back to the little one immediately. The world could have ended, time could have stopped, and nothing would make Fallon and Erik look away from their son.

Nine months and eighteen awful hours of labor later, N'Jemah had turned the couple's lives upside down irrevocably. And they wouldn't have it any other way.

—

N'Jemah King became J.K. for short and he was the joy of his parents' lives.

Fallon expected him to be fussy and difficult the way her mother said she was as a baby. Along with the fact that at his worst Erik could be downright aggravating to her soul, Fallon knew she'd have a battle ahead of her.

According to Ramonda and T'Chaka, Erik hasn't changed all that much from the boy they'd raised. So, expectations were high that J.K. would be as high maintenance as his father, with his temperament to match.

Instead, J.K. became the sweetest, most loving baby you'd ever meet. He only cried when he was tired or needed changing. Other than that, he was content to sit and play with the assortment of toys gifted from family and strangers alike.

During their first visit since J.K. was born, the rest of the family got a glimpse of his unique personality. Ramonda swept into the room and with all her regal maternal glamor, she'd caught J.K.'s attention from his play-mat. It was the first time he'd met her since his actual birth, but he showed no fear at the cooing stranger.

With a dimpled smile, he'd reached out to her to be picked up. Effectively melting every heart in the room into a puddle of sentimental goo.

"Are you sure this is your son?" T'Challa joked during the first of soon to be monthly family visits at their home in LA.

Erik shot his cousin a dark look. "Man, give me my baby,"

—

Fallon put J.K. on a strict schedule of naps and bottles and tummy time that took all her time away from her work at the Center and her crafting projects.

Officially, she was on maternity leave, but six months after J.K.'s birth, and Fallon wasn't any closer to going back. She had gourmet baby food to make and organic diapers to wash. Never had housework made her happier.

The dimpled smiles given to her by her son made all the sleepless nights and work more than worth it in her eyes.

Erik wanted to be home as often as Fallon did, but the Center couldn't be neglected. There were now nine centers total in California and many more in all the places that needed it. He worked at home as often as he could but travel and work emergencies kept him away from his wife and child far more than he liked.

But that was all changing.

Fallon agreed months into her pregnancy to attend all the Centers running a special project she'd set up before her pregnancy. It was an initiative created to teach the youth learn domestic and practical skills they weren't learning in life.